Too Far Gone
by santeria
Summary: Lynette never got off the Ritalin. Now, the addiction's getting worse and the Bree, Gabi, and Susan want to help her. But is Lynette too far gone? Rating may change. R&R!
1. Normal Day

"Lynette, are you sure you want to stay? I mean, you look pretty tired." Susan looked at Lynette with a hint of worry fleeting across her face. Lynette, however, forced a smile and sat languidly down on her chair while placing the bowl of popcorn on the side of the poker table. "Oh, I'm fine, Susan. Really, it's just poker." Just then , Bree and Gabrielle walked briskly into the room and sat at their own respective places. "Alright, let's get started!" exclaimed Gabi enthusiastically with a little clap of her hands. The other three women smiled and started to gossip as Bree divided the poker chips.

The next morning, Lynette woke up feeling like crap. The sun streamed in through the blinds and temporarily blinded her. After cursing the sun and wishing death upon it, she mentally scolded herself for staying up all night playing poker, drinking, and gossiping with the girls. After all, it had been pretty stupid of her to do that when she knew that she would start coming down from the Ritalin soon. Sighing, she glanced at her alarm clock, which read 8:40. Dammit! She was supposed to take the boys to school at eight! She flew through her morning routine then ran down the stairs, moving so fast that she almost tumbled down them while she shouted apologies to her kids. However, when she reached the kitchen the only people in sight were Tom, who was calmly eating toast and reading the newspaper, and Penny, who was playing happily on the floor with a stuffed rabbit. Lynette stopped short and gazed around while firing questions at Tom. "Where are the boys? Why aren't you at work? Why didn't you wake me up?" Tom replied, "You stayed up too late last night. Looked like you needed some extra sleep." A sort of fuzzy warm feeling filled Lynette as she stared at her husband, then she threw her arms around him and kissed him.

The thing was, Tom wasn't far off the mark when he said that she'd needed some extra sleep. Because Lynette needed not only extra sleep, but a couple extra set of hands and more Ritalin. She couldn't concentrate at work; the papers seemed to be piling up and she just didn't have the energy to do anything about it. As usual she got off early to pick up Parker, Preston, and Porter from school. When she saw them running down the steps, a familiar feeling of dread settled in her stomach.

It wasn't that Lynette didn't love her kids; she did. They just wore her out completely. She could never control them, and there was no babysitter left in her neighborhood or any of the surrounding neighborhoods that would willingly watch the boys all day. They were, after all, "the hellions." And even if she and Tom had been able to find a nanny to help them, Lynette was doubtless that a nanny would cost too much to keep for very long.

This was why Lynette took Ritalin every day and drank her herbal tea (which put her right out) every night. She'd never considered the negative affects that it would have on her, that every day her eyes would be bloodshot and her movements would turn jerky. Tom had been concerned about her for quite some time now, and her friends were even beginning to notice that something was wrong. None of them had any idea, however, of just how bad Lynette's addiction was going to get.


	2. Pills and Plans

The remaining pills rattled loudly in the bottle as Lynette tipped the bottle to pour a couple of pills into her palm. One pill wasn't enough anymore. Quickly, she moved to turn on the faucet so the running water could cover the sound. Tom was getting ready for work, the boys were downstairs eating breakfast (not long ago she had heard the crash of utensils hitting the kitchen tile), and Penny was still peacefully sleeping.

At least she could handle Penny just fine.

She swallowed the pills, capped the bottle and turned off the faucet before waking and dressing Penny and running downstairs to herd the boys into the car. She had barely even strapped Penny in her car-seat when the giddy feeling of pure energy began to pulse through her. She practically jumped into the driver's seat, and all the way to school and work she drove over the speed limit. At work her hands were shaking with so much extra energy that she could hardly write correctly. She giggled at her colleagues' stupid jokes and skipped more than walked. The new desk clerk, Paulette, commented on how cheerful Lynette was.

Around noon she started to come down. Her head pounded viciously and the lights were too goddamned bright. She wanted to take two more pills, but she knew she needed to ration them until she got more.

"Oh what the hell." She muttered before slipping into the bathroom to take the pills. She'd get more soon.

Indeed, the next day Lynette stopped at the pharmacy to get more; the pediatrician had examined the boys before and yesterday she had placed a call to him to say that the pills weren't lasting long enough, that the medicine seemed to disappear in no time because there were three boys taking it. So he had ordered an extra bottle and sent it to the pharmacy, along with the regular bottle. Lynette now had enough Ritalin to last her for weeks. She hid the bottles in the very back corner of the bathroom cabinet.

The day after that was poker night. Lynette had taken a three pills at a time that day. Her energy had spilled onto the poker table, and she kept messing up the chips with her shaking hands. While Gabi, Bree, and Susan talked, Lynette wrung her hands, tapped her feet on the carpeted floor, tapped her fingers on the tabletop, and had thrown in several random comments. The other three were looking at her oddly, but at ten Bree pointed out that they should probably break it up, because she had to get up early the next morning to go grocery shopping and Lynette and Susan had to take the boys and Julie to school.

Lynette was the first to leave; Susan and Gabi had lagged behind. Lynette thought nothing of it as she heated her special tea and downed two cups. In five minutes she was sleeping soundly.

But back at Bree's, Susan and Gabi were still talking, speculating on how weird Lynette had been acting lately.

"It's like, all of a sudden she has waaay too much energy. She's so jumpy all the time." said Gabi.

"Her eyes are always red." Mused Susan.

Bree stared out the window towards the Scavo's house. "Something is wrong, I just know it. It reminds me of when...of when Mary Alice was acting so odd. Remember? Just a few weeks before she...shot herself."

The other two women nodded solemnly.

"Then I guess we just have to find out what's bothering her."

"How are we supposed to do that?"

Bree turned to them, smiling softly. "There are ways."


	3. The First Attempt

Susan, Bree, and Gabi sat on Susan's porch. The evening sun around them made the sky look pink, and a golden glow hung over the street. The three women waited for Lynette's car to come into view. As soon as they saw her car up the street they pretended to talk and laugh. When Lynette climbed out of her car, they immediately began calling for her to come and join them.

"Come on! Just a few drinks with your friends!" said Susan.

Lynette walked several steps closer to them. "I don't know...Tom's waiting for with Penny and the boys..."

"Please." said Gabi. Bree smiled encouragingly.

"What the hell. I'm just gonna go tell Tom. I'll be right back."

The three women smiled at Lynette as she went back into the house. As soon as she disappeared inside they turned to each other.

"Okay, remember, do not press her. Be _subtle_."

They heard the Scavos' door slam shut, and Lynette jogged up to them. "Hey, guys..." There was a brief moment of awkwardness before Bree told Lynette to sit and Susan poured her a drink. Gabi leaned forward, her elbows resting on the table. "So we haven't seen you in like a week. Where've you been?" Bree shot Gabi a piercing look that went unnoticed by both Gabi and Lynette.

Lynette picked up her glass before saying "Well, you know, I've been really busy at work lately, and Penny seems to be going through this difficult stage..." she took a sip, "wow, isn't this drink a little strong?"

Susan fake-laughed. "Oh it's nothing. Besides, you just said your week's been tough. All of ours' has been- that's why we're here, we need to have some fun. Because, seriously, I've been going crazy because Julie's been hanging out with this boy from school. She claims that they're studying. I don't think they are."

"And Carlos has been acting all weird and secretive lately." Jumped in Gabi.

"Well, isn't this cheerful." chirped Bree. "Oh, I know just the thing! Have you heard about what's going on with Jean Cazier? You know, the woman who always wears those horrid skirts to church?..."

The women continued to talk until it was dark, and by then all of them except Bree were rather drunk. She pointedly ignored Gabi and Susan, who were arguing about something involving shoes, whilst saying loudly to Lynette. "I couldn't help noticing that you've been acting odd lately. Is anything the matter?"

"Oh you know, things." muttered Lynette vaguely, her speech slightly slurred. "Kids...work...husband.." she yawned. ".I need sleep...I need my tea. Pills. 'Night." She stood and tottered off to her house. Bree sent Gabi and Susan to their respective houses then sat back down on her chair to muse.

She wasn't sure if Lynette had said something about pills. Perhaps she had said "bills"? After all, Lynette's speech had been unsteady. The redhead decided she needed more information. It was time to move onto the backup plan. She only hoped Susan and Gabi would stay focused this time.

A/N: In case you didn't pick up on it, their original plan was to get Lynette drunk and try to get her to spill the beans. Obviously, it didn't exactly work.

Sorry for it being so short.


	4. The Problem Revealed

Bree was really getting anxious as she watched Lynette attempt to garden. The redhead was peering out her kitchen window and biting her lip as she noted how haggard Lynette was looking.

She decided that she had to find out what was wrong before it was too late. When Lynette disappeared inside the Scavo house, Bree picked up the phone to call Susan and Gabi to invite them over for a talk.

"...And I'm not certain on whether she said 'bills' or 'pills'. Either one is bad, but if she was talking about pills then we need to get cracking. I don't want this to turn out the way it did with Mary Alice." Bree finished explaining to Susan and Gabi, who were both sitting on her couch, the conversation she'd had with Lynette a couple nights ago. She sipped her tea as she waited for them to respond.

Susan was the first to speak. "Wow. Uh, look, we're really sorry that we didn't stay focused before. But we're going to do everything we can this time to help figure this out."

Gabi nodded vigorously. "Any ideas?"

Silence.

Then Susan said, "All we need to do is look for any pills she has. They would probably be in her purse or the bathroom. Maybe the kitchen. So two of us have to get her out of the house while one of us searches. And if there are no pills, then she was talking about bills."

"But we'd need to make sure she brings her purse." interjected Gabi.

Bree nodded calmly. "Yes, and make sure that Tom and the boys are out of the house...Oh, but I'm not sure. I really don't like the idea of searching through our friend's private belongings."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Then _I'll_ search and you two distract Lynette. Besides, we can do it when Tom's at work and the boys are at school."

"Lynette works too, hello?" said Gabi in a "duh" kind of voice.

"Trust me, she's not gonna be going to work anytime too soon. Have you _seen_ how worn out she looks? So, let's try it tomorrow, see if Lynette doesn't go to work. If she stays home, you two, I don't know, ask her to help you clean your garage or something."

"My garage is perfectly clean, thank you very much." sniffed Bree.

"_Fine_. I'll dirty mine up. But you will actually have to help me clean it." said Gabi.

The three women stood. Bree opened the door as Gabi and Susan walked out. "Oh, and Susan? Do go into her house through the back door so that if she happens to look over she won't see you sneaking in."

Susan nodded. "Got it."

The next day, all three women were standing at their windows, watching Tom leave with the boys. Lynette, however, didn't even leave the house. After about ten minutes, Gabi stepped out of her house and nodded discreetly in the direction of the Van de Kamp's house. Bree came outside and the two of them started walking to Lynette's house. Susan slipped out her door and ran to hide in some nearby bushes. She saw the other two women knock on the Scavo's door. After about a minute Lynette opened it. She talked to Bree and Gabi, then disappeared inside the house, leaving the door open. Gabi glanced towards the bush. Lynette reappeared holding work gloves in one hand and carrying Penny with her other arm.

They walked to Gabi's house, where Gabi opened the garage door to reveal a huge mess. Susan smiled nervously; it would take them hours to clean that! They went inside, and she crept around to the side of the Scavo house, continuously glancing around to make sure no one saw her.

The back door was unlocked and Susan slipped inside the house and shut the door behind her. She ducked under a window on her way to the kitchen and kept low even when she wasn't right in front of any windows. Quickly she opened drawers and cabinets, scanning the contents. In one cabinet there were medicine bottles, but they were mostly vitamins for the kids and some Tylenol.

Susan looked around for Lynette's purse. It wasn't there. Surely she wouldn't take it with her to clean Gabi's garage? Susan, still bent low, ran awkwardly up the stairs to see if the purse was in Lynette's bedroom. The door was partly open and she crept inside to find the purse on top of a dresser. As she was shifting through it, suddenly she heard the front door open then shut, followed by footsteps. Susan threw the purse back on the dresser and peeked around the door. From downstairs she heard a cabinet being opened and rummaged around in. The cabinet door closed and Lynette appeared, carrying a cleaner of some sort. Abruptly she stopped and turned to look at a drawer that was partly open. Susan's hand flew to her mouth. The drawer must have bounced back open after she closed it! Lynette looked around to see if anything else was out of place. Seeing that nothing was, she shrugged and closed the drawer, then left. Susan heard the front door being locked. She breathed in relief.

But then she heard it. The back door was also being locked. Dammit! How was she supposed to get out now? She sighed, realizing she'd have to think about that later. Right now, she had to focus on the job at hand. The bathroom was the only place left to look.

Once in the bathroom, the first place she looked was the medicine cabinet- not that there were any medicines in it. The only other place to look was the cabinet under the sink. As she looked through it she made sure to put everything back where it belonged.

She almost missed it. At first she thought it was a trick of light, but then she reached into the very back corner of the cabinet and pulled out...two bottles of Ritalin, one of them a little more than half-empty. She frowned, knowing that they couldn't be for the boys. If they were, then they would have been downstairs, not hidden away. Biting her lip, she poured two pills onto her palm then pocketed them. She put the bottles back and made sure everything was where it had been when she came in.

Now the only problem that remained was how to get out of the house. She didn't have a key, so if she unlocked the door and left, she wouldn't be able to lock it again from the outside and Lynette would know that someone had been in her house. Susan walked down the stairs and went towards the back door. She saw a window and managed to open it after a few tries. She made sure no one was looking, climbed over the ledge, and promptly fell into the bushes below. Standing, Susan brushed herself off and ran around to the front of the house. As she dashed across the street she saw Bree giving her a reprimanding "what are you _doing_?" look. Gabi and Lynette were nowhere in sight, and Susan sent Bree a smile and a thumbs-up before disappearing into her own house.


	5. Confrontation

Bree turned the pills over in her hand.

"Are you sure that she's taking these?"

"Come _on_, Bree. Who else would be taking them? The boys obviously aren't- they're just as active as ever. Besides, we know Lynette refuses to drug her children. And Penny and Tom have been acting perfectly normal. It has to be Lynette."

Gabi took the pills from Bree. "The only way to know for sure would be to talk to Lynette about it."

"Like she'll really admit to using Ritalin."

"Tell her what you just told us. Let's see what she says."

Bree nodded. "There really is no other way, Susan. We'll talk to her tomorrow. I'm sure it will all turn out fine."

The next day:

"YOU BROKE INTO MY HOUSE?! YOU WENT THROUGH MY PRIVATE THINGS?!" Lynette screamed.

Susan, who was leaning away from Lynette, said nervously, "Y-Yes, but it was only because we were worried about you!"

"And it's a good thing we did, too!" cried Bree triumphantly. "Because we found these!" She placed the Ritalin pills on the table in front of her.

"_What?_" Lynette snatched up the pills.

Gabi flipped her hair. "We were really just wondering if you were taking those pills."

Susan and Bree stared at her "Gabi!"

Lynette was glaring at the three women, who stared expectantly right back. Lynette knew that they wouldn't just let her off the hook. "Well, so what if I am taking them? They give me energy! They help me!"

"Lynette, you need to stop." whispered Susan.

Bree agreed. "You may think that they're helping you, but, trust me, they're only making things worse."

Lynette glared at them, then challenged "What are you going to do about it? What _can_ you do about it? Nothing. You can't stop me from taking them."

Bree shot up from her chair. "What we will do is drag you to treatment with our own hands if we have to!"

"Uh, yeah." Gabi's agreement with Bree sounded unsure.

"I'd like to see you try!" Lynette glared, then turned and stormed off.

Silence ensued, then Susan mused, "I wonder if we should tell Tom?"

"You can do that." offered Gabi casually.

But Bree turned and said fiercely "No one tells Tom yet. We'll stop Lynette ourselves. Tom already has enough trouble dealing with work and the boys. The last thing he needs is us telling him that Lynette's a junkie. What we have to do is get the pills away from the house and Lynette, then convince her that drugs are not the way to deal with your problems. And yes, we will use force if it is necessary."

What the three women didn't know was that Lynette was, at the same moment, re-hiding her pills and preparing to face the women who she now considered her ex-best friends. She was not going to give in easily.


	6. Telling Tom

A/N: I looked up the effects of Ritalin abuse, so Lynette's physical problems in this chapter are some of the real side effects of abusing Ritalin.

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The days were passing quickly and the tension between the housewives was getting increasingly thick. Bree, Gabi, and Susan had made several attempts to talk to Lynette and convince her to get help. They were trying to think up ways to get Lynette to stop, but so far none of them had any good ideas.

Even Tom was getting wind that something was wrong. He noticed that Lynette had cut off all communication with her friends and was getting thinner and very irritable. She'd skipped a number of days at work, and there were constant calls that warned of being fired unless she showed up at work regularly. But Tom was too preoccupied with keeping the boys and Penny under control; usually Lynette seemed too out of it to actually watch them properly.

To all of this, Lynette seemed completely oblivious. She had upped her daily dosage of the pills, and was suffering both physically and mentally from the side effects. She hated the depression, the headaches and stomachaches, and fatigue. Every once in a while she'd be hit by waves of dizziness then would feel the need to throw up. Not that there was much to throw up- she wasn't eating enough. The thing that really got to Lynette, however, was that she'd noticed that whenever she brushed her hair, there were more and more strands of blonde on the hairbrush. Because of this her hair was getting noticeably thinner, so she had to use volumizer a lot. She'd also taken to wearing loose clothes to hide her quickly vanishing frame.

A big part of Lynette knew that all of this was caused by the Ritalin, but she felt that there was really nothing she could do about it even if she wanted to. In spite of everything else, she still felt that the drugs were helping her. They were keeping her sane.

None of this escaped the notice of the other three housewives, who looked on with growing concern. On one rainy afternoon, they gathered in Gabi's living room to discuss what they had to do.

"The only thing left to do," whined Gabi dryly "is to kidnap her and force her into treatment."

"No, it's not." argued Susan. "We tell Tom, and he does the rest for us."

"Okay, but if Tom sends her to a treatment center, who would watch the kids? Not me." said Gabi.

"I would." murmured Bree. The other two women looked at Bree then at each other in surprise, as the redhead had basically admitted defeat in her attempt to fix the problem quickly and quietly.

"So, what do we tell him?" asked Gabi.

"The truth, obviously." said Susan, rolling her eyes. She sighed. "This is so _not_ a conversation I'm looking forward to."

Bree said nothing except "I'll call him and tell him to come over. If we went over there it would be too easy for Lynette to hear what was going on." Then she stood to retrieve the phone. She dialed the number and waited for someone to pick up. Tom did; Bree assumed Lynette was asleep still. "Tom, it's Bree. We need to talk about Lynette...Can you come over?...Yes, right now is perfectly alright...We'll see you soon."

Mere seconds later there was a rapid knock on the door. Bree went to open it, then reappeared with an anxious-looking Tom. He nodded at Susan and Gabi and said. "Hi. So what's this all about?"

Bree settled down on her chair, smoothing her skirt before offering Tom a seat and asking if he would like something to drink. Tom declined the drink but sat down, looking nervously at each woman in turn.

"So, Tom," said Bree in an unnaturally high voice, "I'm sure you've noticed that Lynette has been acting somewhat...odd, yes?"

Tom nodded. Bree glanced at Susan and Gabi.

"Um, well, we've been worried about her too-" began Gabi.

"Because we found that...Lynette...well, she's taking drugs! There, I said it!" interrupted Susan.

"What?" Tom looked confused. "Look, Lynette wouldn't do that. I know she's been acting strange but it has to be something else. There's just no way she would take drugs."

"Tom, do any of the boys take Ritalin?" asked Bree.

"No. Lynette refused to give the boys medication. Why?"

"Because," said Susan, "we found two bottles of Ritalin in your house."

"What? Why and when were you looking for Ritalin in my house?"

"Well-"

"It's a long story." interjected Gabi. "The point is, we confronted Lynette about it and she refused to stop taking the pills. She said they were helping her."

"Wait. Let me think about this. You're telling me...that my wife has been taking Ritalin...which she has hidden in our house...and you talked to her about it but didn't tell me?"

"Yes. It's a lot to wrap your head around, I know."

Bree stood and began to pace while Tom sat in shock. "We need an intervention. All of us will be there. If she still refuses to voluntarily go to treatment, it won't even matter because she is considered a danger to herself."

Gabi frowned. "You mean we could _make _her go to treatment against her will?"

Tom, who was by now back in the land of the living, looked up. "If you're sure that she's taking drugs, then I guess it's the best thing to do, I don't know."

The others nodded. Bree, still pacing, said, "Tomorrow. We need to do it as soon as possible. Just the four of us though; I don't think Lynette would appreciate the whole neighborhood knowing about her problem. So you should all start thinking about what you're going to say to her. Tom, will one in the afternoon be fine?"

He nodded mutely, his face pale but determined. "Let's do it."


	7. Runaway

Bree, Susan, Gabi, and Tom sat nervously in the Scavo's living room. The kids were at Mrs. McCluskey's house, and the adults were waiting for Lynette to come back from the store, where Tom had oh-so-cleverly sent her so that he and the women would have time to prepare for the intervention.

The four heard the car pull into the driveway, then a few seconds later the door opened and Lynette entered. Without looking up, she set the bag she was carrying on the kitchen counter, along with her purse, and started talking. "I didn't know what kind of ice cream you wanted, because, well, you didn't tell me, so I just g-" She glanced up. "Oh. What's going on?" She fiddled nervously with the car keys she still held as she looked at each of their worried faces in turn.

"You should sit." said Tom.

"I'm fine standing!" She snapped back. "Now, what is going on?"

Tom was the first to speak. "They told me about the Ritalin. And I just want to say that, first of all, I'm not judging you for it. I'm worried about you, we all are."

Susan jumped in. "I know you think that the pills are helping you, but they're not. That's why we want you to get help."

"Because we care about you, and, quite frankly, if this keeps up it will kill you." said Bree in a calm but high-pitched voice.

"Oh, come _on_, Bree. You're not really one to talk, what with your little _drinking_ problem. So don't act all high and mighty, like you're better than be, because you're not, you're just being hypocritical." Lynette said in a sneering tone. Bree stared, shocked and hurt, and Gabi quickly intervened.

"It's okay Lynette, you don't have to get all defensive about it and say things that you don't mean."

"But I do mean it. I always mean what I say, Gabrielle. Unlike you."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Okay, stop." Tom spoke up, not wanting to make the situation even worse. Meanwhile, Susan wisely stayed silent and out of Lynette's line of fire. "This is not about Bree or Gabi, it's about _you_, Lynette."

"Well, maybe I don't want this. Maybe I want you all to just leave me alone and let me live my life."

"We're not just going to leave you alone. We'll bother you for as long as it takes to get this fixed." said Susan.

"Fine." Lynette grabbed her purse, strode to the door, and flung it open. "Fine. If you won't leave me, then I'll leave you!" Before any of the others could grasp what was going on, she had climbed into the car and turned on the ignition.

"Oh, crap." Tom ran to the door towards the car, followed by the three women. Lynette backed the car quickly into the street, then floored the gas pedal. The car screeched off, leaving Tom in the dust as he ran up the street after it. After a bit he stopped running. Hands on his knees, panting, he muttered "What do we do now?"

Lynette was livid. How dare they? It was bad enough that they broke into her house, now they were making a huge deal out of nothing. How _dare _they?

She had slowed down to the speed limit, knowing that getting caught by the police for speeding was the last thing she need right now. As she drove, angry thoughts continued to swirl in her head, distracting her from her driving and causing her to come disturbingly close to hitting another car.

She knew that she shouldn't have run off like that. She knew that her husband and her friends were right. She thought of her kids. _I wonder what Tom will tell them?_ As much as she wanted to, she couldn't go back now, because that would be admitting defeat, and she didn't want to give in so quickly.

So she drove on, and ended up at a motel in someplace she'd never been to before. Tired, she checked in. She would fix her problem later; for now, she wanted rest.

As Lynette lay in the dreary motel room, she realized that she was truly screwed. She wanted her kids and her husband and her friends and her house. She didn't even have her Ritalin with her. What she did have was her credit cards in her purse and two bags of groceries in the car, so at least there was money and food. At least that should last long enough for her to figure everything out.

Back on Wisteria Lane, the women were trying to comfort Tom while figuring out what to do. So far, they had contacted Mrs. McCluskey and had asked her to keep the kids for the night, citing "an unforeseen situation" which wasn't a lie as no one had anticipated that Lynette would run away.

"We could just call the police. Tell them that Lynette's a danger to herself so they should go look for her." said Susan from her place on the sofa.

"That would only make the situation even worse than it already is." replied Bree.

Gabi gave a very un-Gabi-like snort. "I don't think that's possible. There is no way it could get worse."

"That's where you're wrong." Bree stood. "See, Lynette doesn't keep the pills in her purse, therefore she doesn't have them now. It would get worse if she managed to get a hold of Ritalin. Besides, if we call the police and they find her then she'll get even more mad at us because sending the police would be like saying that we don't trust her."

Susan rolled her eyes. "Well, we don't trust her, so why does it even matter?"

"Because she's going to come back. I know it."

Tom looked up. "You really think so?"

"Yes. All we have to do is wait."


	8. The Rescue

Why did it have to be so _cold_ in here? Lynette shivered and pulled the thin motel blankets tightly around her shoulders. Mere seconds later she was too hot and had actually begun to sweat a little. So she threw the blanket off- and was promptly freezing again. _What the hell is going on?_ Brushing wayward strands of hair out of her face she sat up, and instantly regretted that decision as she was suddenly hit by a major headache. _Oh, this is just great. I can't decide whether I'm hot or cold and I have a migraine._

Lynette decided that she liked it better here when she was sleeping, so she curled back up on the bed and tried to fall asleep again. It didn't work. She missed her family, it was too hot in here, it was too cold, she was thirsty, she was hungry, she had bouts of nausea. This was not good. Still, there really wasn't anything she could do about it, so she just tossed and turned on the bed for what seemed like hours before finally falling asleep.

"Where's mommy? I want mommyyyyyy..." The boy whined loudly, and Tom resisted the (very strong) urge to ground him on the basis of being annoying. Instead, Tom lied. "Mommy's on a little vacation right now. She'll be home in a few days." _I hope_. Bree had said that Lynette would return home soon, but Tom was still worried out of his mind. Because, honestly, what did Bree know? How could she be so sure about this? After all, while she was Lynette's friend, he was Lynette's husband. Therefore he knew Lynette better than Bree did. If anyone should be sure in this picture, it was him.

What Tom really wanted to do was check the account in the bank and see if Lynette had used her card for anything. If she'd used it to check into someplace, he would know where she was and could go get her. But doing that would, as Bree (_Damn her!_) had said, make Lynette even more mad. Muttering profanities under his breath, Tom shuffled into the kitchen to begin making lunch.

Bree was sitting on the edge of her perfectly-made bed, staring at the blank white wall. In her mind, she kept repeating what Lynette had said to her during the intervention. _You're not really one to talk, what with your little _drinking_ problem._

Did she really have a drinking problem? Okay, so maybe she'd gotten tipsy a few times when she was under stress, but what woman hadn't? It wasn't like she got drunk every night. But maybe..._No! She didn't mean what she said..._ Wringing her hands, Bree stood and made her way downstairs. She had already popped open the bottle of wine before she realized what she was doing. Quickly, she recapped the bottle and thrust it back into the cabinet. _Lord help me, she was right._

Gabi Solis paced. Back and forth, her heels clicking on the wooden floor, back and forth. She'd gotten all dressed up to go shopping and now she was stuck here, in her home. Well, not really _stuck_, per se; she just didn't really feel like shopping right now. _What's wrong with me? I always want to go shopping!_ As Gabi paced, she realized that she was feeling down because she was thinking of what Lynette had said to her yesterday. Gabi had thought it over, and was positive that she had implied that Gabi was a liar.

_But when have I lied?_ Oh, sure, there was that little affair with John, but that was a long time ago. And there was that time, just a few days ago, when she had wheedled Lynette into helping her clean her garage. But that wasn't really lying, was it? Her garage really had been messy. Still, Gabi felt bad because they had basically tricked Lynette into leaving her house so Susan could break into the Scavo house and sneak around. Those were the only two times that Gabi could remember telling really big lies. She'd lied many other times, obviously, but those were just teensy little white lies. And white lies never hurt anybody, right?

Tom had had enough. Screw what Bree said, he was going to find his wife! He used the computer to check the account, and saw that money had indeed been taken out and spent on a room at a motel. He scribbled down the name of the motel, then dragged out the yellow pages to find all the nearby hotels that went by the same name. He wrote the addresses down, then, after a quick call to Mrs. McCluskey, dashed out the door and drove off.

Honestly, he wasn't quite sure how to go about this. He'd been acting on a whim, really. He decided that he would cruise around the parking lots of the motels in question and look for her car.

There were only a couple of the motels nearby. He drove up and down the aisles of the parking lot of the first one, but didn't find the car he was looking for. She had to be at the second one, then. If she wasn't there, then she'd either checked out or had driven a lot farther than he'd thought.

But the car was there, tucked soundly, if haphazardly, between a blue van and a black truck. Tom had never felt so happy to see the car. He parked as close to it as he could, then got out and walked nervously inside, looking around for any sign of his wife. As he approached the front desk, his mind raced.

"Um...excuse me? Can you tell me what room Lynette Scavo is staying in?"

The woman behind the desk looked piercingly at him over the rims of her glasses. "I'm sorry, sir, but I cannot disclose that information to you."

"Look, this is important. I'm her husband." He pulled out his drivers license. "See?" The woman took the card an examined the picture before looking back up at Tom and handing him the license.

"That may be so, but I cannot tell you what room she's staying in."

"Oh, for Pete's sake! It's urgent! She needs to be in a hospital!" The woman's head snapped up, her eyes widening for a second before she regained her composure.

"Then I will call paramedics and have them check on her."

"_Thank _you!" Relief washed over him, and he ambled over to a nearby chair and flopped down in it. He watched to woman pick up her phone and dial. She glanced coldly at him a few times while she talked. Tom couldn't hear the conversation, but wasn't really bothered by it; he was just so happy. Everything was going to turn out alright. Lynette would be taken to get help; she would get cleaned up; he would get his family back; and Susan, Gabi, and Bree would have their friend back.

Someone was pounding incessantly on the door, and it was really pissing Lynette off. Part of her wanted to scream at them, but a more rational part told her to keep quiet and maybe they would think she wasn't there or just give up and leave.

The pounding on the door really wasn't helping her headache, though, and she wasn't sure how much longer she could take it before she exploded at whoever stood on the others side of the door.

But then, whoever was on the other side started to unlock the door! _How did they get a key to my room? _was the only thought she had time for before the door was flung open to reveal a couple of guys dressed like paramedics and a severe-looking woman clutching a ring of keys. Lynette quickly raised her hand to her face to block out the too-bright sunlight. _What are they DOING? _She didn't even have time to protest as the two men easily lifted her out of the bed and carried her down to the waiting ambulance.


	9. Homecoming

Lynette stood in front of the rehab clinic as Tom loaded her bags into the car. It had been one month since she arrived at the clinic, one long month of stark white rooms and white corridors and orderlies dressed in neatly pressed white uniforms.

Lynette hated white now.

It had been one month since that fateful day at that motel, when she'd been dragged out of her motel room by paramedics and whisked off to a nearby hospital. By then she'd had not only fever and chills and a massive headache, but was also starting to hallucinate.

She'd been sent to the clinic very quickly- the doctors there knew how to handle people who were coming down from their drug highs.

While at the clinic, Lynette had shared a room with a woman named Margaret. At group therapy, she had met Kelly, Lauren, Josef, Michele, and Connor. She had become close friends with all of them, but had connected especially with Michele, who had also taken Ritalin.

She was going to miss them all. Miss the way Lauren could always think of a joke to lighten the mood, miss the way Connor was always able to make her feel better about herself whenever she was feeling ashamed. They had all hugged her goodbye, but Lynette was fairly certain that she would never see any of them again, as she had no intention of going back _there_ any time soon.

"Ready?" said Tom, wringing his hands while an anxious smile played on his face. Lynette nodded, and Tom held the door for her as she climbed into the car.

She looked back as Tom drove away, looking through the rearview mirror until the clinic was no longer visible. Neither of them spoke. A feeling of dread was forming in Lynette- she realized that she would have to face Susan, Bree, and Gabi when she got home.

They had tried to visit her at rehab, but she had declined to see them. She knew that they would think that she was mad at them, but she did it anyway. She just couldn't stand the thought of them seeing her stuck in that place and being all nice to her even though she'd blown up at them during the intervention. If anyone should be mad, it should be them.

Lynette didn't know what she could possibly say to them aside from "I'm sorry" and she really didn't think that sorry would cover it. She sighed, and Tom glanced over.

"You okay?"

"Fine...nervous. I don't know what to say to them."

Tom immediately knew who she was talking about. "They're not mad at you. They never were. Just worried."

"Still, I screwed up. I made things difficult for them. And for you. I don't think I apologized before, but I'm apologizing now. I'm sorry. And I'm not going to do it again. I swear."

"It's okay. It's not really your fault. You were under a lot of stress."

Lynette smiled at him, and Tom managed to tear his eyes off the road long enough to give her a genuine smile.

"Thanks. I love you." said Lynette, appreciatively.

"I love you too."

The streets were becoming more and more familiar, and it wasn't long before Wisteria Lane's tree-lined street came into view. In spite of Tom's assurances, Lynette still felt nervous about facing her friends.

But when the door to her house opened, the only people she had to face were her children and Mrs. McCluskey. The boys and Penny seemed happy enough to see her; they weren't old enough to really understand what had happened. Mrs. McCluskey simply hugged her then said "Glad to have you back" while clapping her on the shoulder before leaving.

The kids were herded into the background, and Lynette walked through the house, trying to familiarize herself with it again. While doing so, she noticed something surprising. Everything was perfectly clean and in its place. She had honestly expected to see dirty dishes in the sink and dirty clothes in the laundry room.

Tom noted her surprise and said, "We wanted everything to look nice for you."

Lynette, already emotionally overwhelmed, found herself throwing her arms around Tom and kissing him rather passionately. He really was quite charming, and the best husband on the street. In fact, he was one of the _only_ husbands on the street- most of the women Lynette knew were either divorced or had never been married.

Tom murmured jokingly, "You move fast."

"You got a problem with that?"

He kissed her again. "Of course not."

Just then the doorbell rang. _Stupid doorbell_. Tom volunteered to get it, and Lynette was once again was overcome by anxiety. She started taking deep breaths to calm herself down.

Sure enough, the door opened to reveal Bree, Susan, and Gabi. Bree was carrying a basket of muffins, and she handed them to Tom, who took them wordlessly them then turned to Lynette and whispered, "I'll be upstairs if you need me." He set the basket on the counter and disappeared up the stairs and out of view.

For a few seconds, the three women simply stood and stared at Lynette as if they weren't sure if it was really her. All of a sudden, Susan moved forward and enveloped Lynette in a hug. The other two followed suit. At first, the embraces were stiff and tense, but after a bit they softened and the women were sincerely hugging her.

"We've missed you." said Gabi, when they finally broke apart. There were tears standing in Susan's and Lynette's eyes. Both blinked rapidly, and Susan sniffled. Bree kept her hand on Lynette's shoulder even after they had stopped hugging.

"I've missed you guys too." Lynette replied, then she stopped and took a deep breath. "Look, I really wanted to say that I'm sorry for getting mad at you earlier. You were just trying to help

an-"

"It's okay." interrupted Bree. "You were right."

Lynette gave her a curious look, but before she could ask what Bree meant, Susan had said, "So, you need to get caught up on everything that's been going on in the past month. It'll make you feel better, I promise."

Lynette hesitated, then nodded and said, "Sit" while gesturing to the sofa and chairs. "Do you want anything to drink?"

The three shook their heads, and Lynette sat on the sofa with them. As Susan resumed talking, Lynette heard a small creak from the top of the stairs. She looked up to see Tom, who grinned.

Lynette couldn't help but grin back, because she had realized that she had her friends and her family to keep her going. No matter how hard things got, they would support her and help her. She knew that now.

So she smiled at Tom, and after he disappeared again, she turned back to her friends and talked and laughed with them until late in the evening. And as she watched her friends walk back to their respective houses, Lynette knew deep in her heart that everything was going to turn out alright in the end.


End file.
